Cabinet construction



CABINET CONS'ELI RRRRR ON March 26, 1940.I o. RoBERTs cABINET coNsTRUcTIN Filed July 14. 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 26, 1940. D. ROBERTS v cABINET' coNsTRUcTIoN 5 Sheets-Shee't 3 Filed July 14, 1937 Patented 'Mar. 26, 1940 UNITED sTATEs PATENT--orncs David Roberts, Upper Derby, Pa., assignor to lPhilco Radio and Television Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application July 14, 1937, Serial No. 153,665

In Great BritainJuly 22, 1936 6 Claima- (Cl. 211-2) This invention relates to cabinets and their manufacture, and more particularly to five sided cabinets, such as those employed as radio cabinets 'for vradio sets. Such a cabinet is in the form .o of a rectangular box having a front,'abottom, two sides, and a top, the back of the cabinet being open.

One object of the invention is to provide anovel cabinet of this type in which three or more 10 sides are formed from av single piece of plywood, consisting of two or more plies,v and to provide a novel method of bending and forming the said sides from the single piece in one machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide` id a novel cabinet in which at least three mutually perpendicular sides thereof are formed using a single piece of plywood by providing tabsor extensions on two of the sides and folding and overlap-ping these extensions to form the third' 20 side.

A further object of the invention is to .provide a novel cabinet in which the top, or both the top and bottom., of the cabinet are formed by -providing tabs or extensions on the front and Sides, 25 and ,folding the tabs or extensions into overlapping relation with the edges of the side tabs in abutting relation.

Other objects and features of the invention will v be apparent hereinafter. 30 In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is aperspective view of one form of the i cabinet constructed in accordance with the invention Figs. 2 and 3 are perspective views of one of- 35 the comer pieces employed;

45 Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken. along line 9----9 V of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a sectional viewtaken along line l-r-I ofFig. 8; and i Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken along line 50 H-H of Fig. 10.

Referringto the drawings, in Fi'g. 1 thereis` shown one form of the cabinet which comprises the cabinet body I formed of plywood material,v corner pieces 2, and supporting pieces 3. The

55 coruer pieces 2 are shown on enlarged scale in Figs. 2 and 3. The construction of these pieces and their man-ner of use will be explained more fully hereinafter;

In the manufacture of the cabinet of Fig. 1 according to the present invention, the first step is to provide a piece of plywood material of predetermined shape, such as shown on a reduced scale in Fig. 4. Such a piece of plywood material may be cut from a piece of stock in such a way as to minimizewaste orloss of material. For the purpos'e of explanation, it may be assumed that it is desired to construct a cabinet having Vaheight A, a width B, and a depth C, as designatcd in Fg. 1. A rectangular piece of plywood ma- -terial having a length approximately equal to 15 "A+2C' or A+B, whichever is'greater, and a width approximately equalto B+2C, as indicated in Fig. 4, is first cut from the stock material. Asf suming thatA+2C is greater than A+B, a s Will usually be the case, the four corners of the piece v are cut symmetrically so'that the length of each longitudinal edge is approximately-equal to A+B, as shown in Fig. 4, and so as to leave central: longitudinal tabs T slightly greater in'width then ,B. `The corner pieces which are thus cut away are shown in broken-lineoutlineand'designated a: in Fig. 4. Longitudinal strips yare'then cut away on each side of the tabs T, leaving the tabs of width w slightly less in' Width than B, and

Ileaving longitudinal portions L slightly less in length'than A. There are thusformed smaller tabs t on each side of the' central tabs'T and spaced therefrom. The cut piece orblank which 'is thus formed comprises a central sectioncarryv ing the tabs T, -and side sectionsor wings carrying the tabs' t. -The approximate relative dimensions given above' are somewhattoo large and give sufiicient allowance for ordinary shrinkage in the forming process.4 The exact dimensions may' be determined for any particular typeof wood by 40 consideration of its shrinkage and-:the particular .shapel of the cabinet edge.

4 The piece of plywood material which is thus l formed is thoroughly'moistened and-is then folded and glued, as will now be described,- to fornthe cabinet body. The process described belowis preferably carried outin a single machine. The' moistened piece is placed in; a Isuitable hotpress r or mold heated, by steam or other heating medium. The lpiece is'foldedlongitudinally on each side of the central tabs T along the longitudinal portions L so -that the side portions .or wings' carrying the small tabs-txtend'substantially at right anglesto the central portion carrying the-large tabs T. Preferablyo the small`.tabs t are then ,folded inwardly substantially. at right angles to the sides or lwings carrying them so as to bring the ends of the small tabs adjacent one another or into abutting relation. The inside surfaces of the central tabs T are covered with glue and then these tabs are folded over the small tabs substantially at right angles to the central portion of the piece carrying the large folding the tabs may be reversed. While any type of glue may be used, preferably a waterproof glue of the resinous type should be employed. The form of the folds will be determined by the shape of the mold and curved form.

When a piece of material, such as shown in Fig..4, is thus folded, there is formed a five-sided cabinet of the type shown in Fig. 1. It has been found that satisfactory cabinets-may be made in this manner, using plywood of 3 to 5 or more ply veneer. It has been found also that when such cut piece is moistened and formed in a hot press` or mold under pressure. a permanent deformation of the laminated structurewill occur, the wood showing no tendency to return to its original shape when released from the press. Moreover, the gluing together of the tabs or flaps and the abutment thereof serve to'markedly improve the Strength and rigidity of the Structure and are advantageous for that reason, while of course,

Vto

, ing a corner piece specially to flt a particular' assisting in maintaining the desired shape of the cabinet. The fomiing and folding process, which may be done with the use of steam pressure and heat, may economically be performed by a machine in a single Operation resulting in an economy in manufacturing cost.

Preferably, the comers and edges of the finished cabinet shouldbe rounded and should have a reasonably large radius of curvature, for example, a radius of curvature of one inch is very satisfactory. This gives to the cabinet a pleasing appearance. The cutting out of the pieces y, as above described, permits bending along a cylindrical form. Rounded corners may be provided by employing corner blocks which may be shaped as desired, before or after assembling them in the cabinet.

The corner blocks or pieces which are employ-` ed to fill the spaces at the corners of the cabinet and to provide the desired rounded corners are preferably shaped as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. It will be noted that these blocks or pieces are of the general shape of a portion of a spheroid but the curved surfacel of theblock or piece is irregularly formed so as to provide shoulders 4 and 5 which abut against the edges 6 and l of the plywood, and to provide a tapering shoulder 8 adjacent the edge 9, as shown in Fig. 1. The said shoulders define an exposed corner surface which is aligned with the curved surfaces of the cabinet adjacent the edges 6 and 1. This provides a pleasing appearance in the nished cabinet. The corner pieces may be formed of any suitable material such'as wood, Bakelite or metal, and they may be formed i'n'any convenient manner such as by cutting or molding. These pieces may be preformed inia standardized mold and will then `nt in any cabinet made in a' companion machine. VThis eliminates the' necessity of formcabinet and reduces the cost of manufacture of ais-1,722

the cabinet. The corner pieces may be inserted in the cabinet during the formation thereof or after the cabinet body has been formed.

The supporting pieces 3 may comprise strips of wood extending parallel to one another along the bottom of the cabinet, as shown in Fig. 6, and secured to the bottom of the cabinet in any suitable manner. as by glue or screws. The size and shape of these strips may be varied to suit the designer's taste. They may be attached to the cabinet during or after the formation thereof as above described. Small resilient feet IO (see Fig. 6), which may for example comprise felt covered brads, maybe attached to the supporting strips 3 so as to raise the cabinet above any polished surface upon which it may be placed, thus preventing marring or scratching of such surface.

The holes H which must be provided in the cabinet to accommodate control knobs, tuning dial, loud Speaker, etc., may be formed by punching out or die-cutting the plywood in ,the manner that sheet metal is punched or die cut. If desired, this may be done at the same time that the cabinet is beingv formed so as to provide the flnished cabinet by means of a single operation. This will insure standardization of the positions of the several openings in the cabinet.

In Figs. 7 to 11, there is illustrated an alternative form of the cabinet which may be formed vide a cabinet body Ia, the back and bottom of which are open. It will be understood that the top of this cabinet will be Constructed in the same manner that the top of the previously described cabinet is constructed. J The corner pieces '2 are inserted in the upper front corners as previously described. In this instance, however,-

there is provided a rigid piece l2 which also forms the bottom of the cabinet and serves to rigidify the cabinet body. This bottom piece may comprise a relatively thick piece of wood or other from a cut piece or blank such as shown in Fig. 7.

material and may extend below the edge of the plywood' body as shown in Figs. 9 and 11. This bottom piece is preferably embcdied in the Ioox Structure during the formation of the body thereof by folding the plywood about the bottom piece. Alternatively and less desirably, the said piece may be4 inserted in the lower part of the plywood body after the formation thereof. The bottom piece may be Secured to the plywood body by means of glue or in any other suitable manner. In this instance also, there are provided small feet I3 which raise the bottom piece above the surface on which the cabinet is to be supported.

In either of the cabinets above described, the free edges of the plywood may be reinforced in any conventional manner, if desired, but generally speaking, this has not been found necessary.

in Figs. 9 and 11, may be used if desired.

While the invention has vbeen described with reference to certain forms of embodiments, it will be understood that other modications of the invention are possible and may be employed without departing from the general principles involved. It will be' understood, therefore, that the Likewise, conventional glue blocks l2, as shown ais-mas rounded surfaces. two of said shoulders abutting present disclosure imposes no limitation upon the invention.

I claim:

1. In a plywood cabinet Structure, two SidesI with a rounded surface joining them, a third side comprising overlapping tabs or extensions of the said two sides, the said tabs being bent soas to provide rounded surfaces between said third side and each of said two sides, and a corner piece inserted within the corner formed by the three Sides and filling the space at the corner, said corner piece being formed to provide two shoulders thereon abutting against the respective edges of two of the said rounded surfaces and a tapering shoulder on the corner piece engaging the edge of the other rounded surface, said shoulders defining a corner'surface which fits snugly within the corner space defined by the said rounded surfaces and .blend's into said rounded surfaces. ar

2. In-a plywood cabinet Structure, two sides with a rounded surface joining them, a third side comprising a bent tab or extension on one of said shoulder on the' corner -piece engaging the .edge v of the rounded surface of said overlapping bent tab, said shoulders defining a corner surface which flts snugly within the corner space defined by the said rounded surfaces and blends into said rounded surfaces.

3. In a plywoodcabinet structure, a pair of opposed sides, a'third side joined to said opposed sides by rounded surfaces, a fourth side comprising overlappingtabs or extensions of said firstA three sides, the said tabs being bent so as to provide rounded surfaces between said fourth side and each ofsaid first three' sides, and a pair of corner. pieces inserted respectively within the corners formed by the said four lsides and filling the spaces at the corner-s; each of said cornerpieces being formed to provide three shoulders deiining a` corner surface which flts snugly within the corner space defined by three:

of the said rounded surfaces and blenda into said respectively against the edges of two of the said three rounded surfaces, and the thirdshouider being tapered and engaging the edge of the other of said three rounded surfaces.

4. In a'plywood cabinet Structure, a pair of opposed sides, a third side joined to said opposed sides by rounded surfaces, a fourth side comprising bent tabs or extensions on said first two sides and a bent tab or extension on said third side overlapping the other tabs, the said tabs being bent so as to provide rounded surfaces between said fourth side and each of said first three sides, and a pair of corner pieces ins'erted respectiveiy within the corners formed by the said' four sides, and filling the spaces at the corners; each of said corner pieces being formed to provide three shoulders defining a corner surface which flts snugiy within the corner space defined by three i of the said rounded surfaces and biends into said ,rounded surfaces, one of said shoulders being serted within the corner formed by the three V sides and filling said opening,said corner piece being formed to provide three curvedvshoulders thereon conforming in curvature and depth to the respective edges of the said rounded surfaces and adapted to engage said edges, an outer curved surface on said piece within the confines of said shoulders fitting snugly within said Opening and blending into said rounded surfaces, and cu`rved surfaces adjacent to said shoulders outside the confines thereof and engaging the inner surfaces of the cabinet adjacent to said opening.

6. A corner piece adapted to be inserted within a cabinet and to flll a corner Opening of the cabinet, said piece having three curved shoulders formed thereon in intersecting relation with one another, two of said shoulders being of substantially constant depth and the third being of varying depth, a curved corner surface within the conflnes ofsaid shoulders, and curved surfaces adjacent to said shoulders outside the confines thereof.

DAVID ROBERTS. 

